AKA: “Tuvan throat-singing.” I think it’s one of the most ‘metal’ things around, and I’ve been a fan of Laibach since their first album came out in the US in the mid 1980s. The lead singer for Laibach doesn’t really do polyphonic overtones, but it’s a similar sound.
I’m a fan of The Hu, who get good mileage out of throat-singing though, to be honest, the vocalist doesn’t have a lot of range and sophistication in the overtones he gets. That’s fine for Make Mongolia Great Again types, but when it’s approached in a disciplined manner, you can get some amazing results.
For example: Anna Maria Hefele
I would like to know how much time she has spent practicing that. If you’re interested, she has another video in her stream where she explains how you can learn to do it, yourself. Her delivery is really delightful, too – I can’t tell how much of it is her accent or just how she explains things, but she comes off as very, very, dry with a whiff of irony. When someone does careful archeology regarding how our bodies do something, and explains it, it’s always fascinating to me. It takes a lot of analysis and self-awareness to figure out what’s going on, and then formulate an explanation that is comprehensible to another – you can’t just say “it’s an internal thing, oh, I dunno, you do it with your throat.”
If you want something a bit less dry, here’s The Hu:
Fascinating, thanks for pointing this out. Some of the sounds Anna Maria Hefele makes seem quite otherworldly – you almost don’t expect them to be possible from a human voice. I hope I get the chance to hear her in concert some time.
This is an example of her performance. Mind bending:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YIUvX7hebBA
Anna Maria Hefele’s video above kind of creeps me out. That is on me, I know. But The Hu Band video above is really cool. I am not sure, but I think that Caine featured them on her blog. I have seen them somewhere before, and that is the most logical choice.
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The video you referenced in comment #2 doesn’t creep me out so much, but it is still pretty weird.
For some fancier Mongolian style technique, try these folks (wait for the weird high whistling noise): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUBoTsowxJI
@3 johnson catman
I’ve heard the Hu before. They are interesting but I find the aggressive nationalism of their lyrics and their enthusiasm for Genghis Khan a bit off-putting.
Sure guys, you love your country, but could you perhaps manage it without laying waste to Asia and half of Europe this time round?
I like the way Charlie King weaves the sound in “My Baby in the CIA” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPLyhbb-vl8). I find the sound way weird (not creepy, just weird). I think those lyrics fit the spirit of many of the blog posts here.
O wow, thanks for featuring her! I’ve been going through her lessons and now I want to impress my choir by learning this. Something about it really appeals to me.
Also I like the videos that show the physics, it’s great!
mailliw @5: I do not speak Mongolian, so I had no idea what you were talking about until I looked up and saw the subtitled video. I have always been more of a “music” listener instead of a “lyrics” listener anyway though, especially for any type of metal.
I suppose duophonic is technically polyphonic. Disappointing, I expected more.
Oh, and she was supposedly singing at the end of the first video, but merely making noise isn’t singing for me. Vocalisation matters.
(But hey, impressively odd)
Several notes at once from this tenor sax player. You’re welcome. A nice quote, on one of “the most disturbing” multiphonics he knows:
And yes, “multiphonics” … there is a difference. It’s best to think of it as altering the timbre: those partials are always present in the tone, but they can be given different emphasis (with sometimes very dramatic effects).
However, doing that is not actually allowing for very independent melodic lines (polyphony), since two such lines don’t need to be in the same harmonic series at any given moment (as they do with multiphonics). So, it’s kind of a category error — “polyphony” is something else, describing the melodic/harmonic “texture” (not timbre, and not about a single instrument/voice). Note that polyphony is usually contrasted with homophony. (Monophony is also an option, but in practice that’s barely ever relevant.)
So, I get that almost nobody understands or cares, but “multiphonics” is the more cromulent choice of terminology.
Dry is a good word for it; I will take a musical piece with less technical proficiency any day if it has a fun approach to making a melody. For me, virtuosity is only as interesting as the musicality for which it is used.
#4 octopod
Excellent example! Technical proficiency put to good use, where The Hu goes for a more direct heavy metal style.
#5 mailliw
Song/lyric meaning has always been the least important thing for me. If the lyrics are deep or trite, simple or complex, or even gibberish, the only thing that interests me is the tune it carries. It is just another instrument as far as I am concerned. Hence a song is just as good (or bad) to my ear whether I understand the language or not.
[cr, belated, but I feel I should let you know I appreciated your insight]
Holms@#12:
Dry is a good word for it; I will take a musical piece with less technical proficiency any day if it has a fun approach to making a melody. For me, virtuosity is only as interesting as the musicality for which it is used.
I agree. In this video she is just trying to demonstrate the technique, so she’s not trying to distract from that.
johnson catman@#3:
Anna Maria Hefele’s video above kind of creeps me out. That is on me, I know.
It has a similar effect on me. I expect the movements of her mouth to match a vocalization, but instead she looks like a ventriloquist – my brain is going “where is that sound coming from!?” It makes me a bit uncomfortable because the sound is unexplained.